San Diego Falls to UC Santa Barbara 72-61
By Josh Horton
Dec 5, 2013; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Toreros players react after a loss against the San Diego State Aztecs at Jenny Craig Pavillion. The Aztecs won 65-64. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
I predicted that San Diego would pull out a convincing victory over UC Santa Barbara tonight, beating the Gauchos by double-digits. The exact opposite ended up happening, with UCSB defeating the Toreros by a score of 72-61.
USD was led by Duda Sanadze, Johnny Dee and Dennis Kramer, who finished with 19, 18 and 17 points respectively. Kramer pulled down 11 rebounds in the loss. His 17 points and 11 rebounds was good for a double-double, his second in as many games.
Christopher Anderson had a poor shooting night (0-7 from the field), but dished out 9 assists, a game-high.
Star center Alan Williams was not the player to torch San Diego on the offensive end of the floor. Instead it was Michael Bryson, who dropped 21 points on the Toreros defense on 8 of 12 shooting (5-7 from 3). Williams led the Gauchos in rebounding tonight with 7. UCSB point guard Zalmico Harmon dished out 5 assists, a team-high.
Stat of the Game
Sanadze, Dee and Kramer accounted for 88.5 percent of San Diego’s point total tonight. After those two, freshman forward Brett Bailey chipped in 5 and Simi Fajemisin and Christopher Anderson each had 1.
Keys to the Game Checklist
Offset Williams – X
The Toreros two backcourt mates combined for only 19 points on 7 of 29 shooting. These two did not play well enough to knock off UC Santa Barbara tonight.
Get Stops – X
The Toreros did not get the necessary amount of defense stops in order to pull out a victory versus UC Santa Barbara.
The Bottom Line
San Diego has played a few talented teams very close, but always end up getting beat in the end. The Toreros have ran out of chances to differentiate themselves from the pack in the non-conference slate. USD will need to do most of its damage in conference play in order to make a strong case for postseason play.